The PJM electrical grid serving 67 million people in 13 states and the District of Columbia continues to operate reliably through the effects of Winter Storm Fern, with extreme cold temperatures now expected to last through Feb. 2.
Electricity use remained at high levels Wednesday (Jan. 28), with demand peaking at approximately 137,000 MW Wednesday evening.
Lower-than-expected temperatures and school and government closings have muted electricity use this week. Peak electricity demand on Tuesday and Wednesday fell short of PJM’s all-time winter hourly peak of 143,700 MW, set last January. Tuesday’s hourly peak was approximately 136,800 MW.
Forecasts for Thursday and Friday have been lowered. The extreme cold is now forecast through Monday, Feb. 2, and forecast peaks have been readjusted upward for Saturday through Monday. PJM continues to work with its generation and transmission owners to prepare for frigid operating conditions.
| Date | Forecast Peak Load |
| Thursday, Jan. 29 | 139,400 MW |
| Friday, Jan. 30 | 141,900 MW |
| Saturday, Jan. 31 | 134,800 MW |
| Sunday, Feb. 1 | 130,800 MW |
| Monday, Feb. 2 | 130,500 MW |
These numbers are official as of 1:30 p.m. Jan. 29. They are subject to change and will be updated periodically.
Load forecasts can be viewed on the PJM Now application, PJM Data Viewer (72 hours) and PJM Data Miner (seven days).
Preliminary hourly integrated peak data can be found by using PJM’s Data Miner tool.
Cold Weather Alert, Conservative Operations Extended to Feb. 2
A Cold Weather Alert is currently in effect for the entire region PJM serves has been extended through Feb. 2.
A Cold Weather Alert is a routine procedure PJM issues in advance of significantly cold weather conditions expected for all or parts of the region PJM serves.
When issued, PJM communicates with generation owners to tell them to be prepared to call in additional staff to get all units running for when electricity use begins to increase. Generation owners must take extra care to maintain equipment so that it does not freeze in the cold and are reminded to provide updated information to PJM on limitations to their units, including time required to start and the max and min times that their units can run once started.
A Cold Weather Alert can also be used to defer or reschedule planned generation maintenance outages and/or transmission outages and/or recall transmission/generator outages, if necessary.
PJM has also extended a Conservative Operations declaration through Feb. 2 for advance unit commitments, fuel and emissions limitations.
There are any number of events that may require PJM to operate more conservatively. When PJM declares Conservative Operations, system operators have more flexibility to make decisions to maintain reliability. The declaration of Conservative Operations may include additional actions, including recalling/cancelling non-critical maintenance outages, reductions in transfers into, across or through the PJM RTO, increased reserves, and/or additional requests placed upon PJM member transmission owners and generation owners.
See PJM’s Emergency Procedures and Messages fact sheet (PDF) for more information.
For other actions and preparations taken this week, see previous updates on PJM Inside Lines.